Unofficial news and tips about Google

November 14, 2008

Google Voice Search for iPhone

In 2002, Google Labs introduced a service that allowed you to search Google with a simple phone call. Unfortunately, the service wasn't very useful because the results were displayed on your computer and Google discontinued it.

Six years later, Google Mobile App for iPhone introduces the same feature, but this time the search results are displayed in the same application. Google built a sophisticated platform for text-to-speech and speech recognition using data from GOOG-411 and we can already some of its applications in Mobile Google Apps, YouTube and in this updated iPhone app.

It's quite weird to say how to download the app: since Apple doesn't offer user-friendly permalinks, you'll have to visit the iPhone App Store and search for "Google Mobile App". This iPhone app is just a sneak-peak into the future of mobile search, which will become more intuitive and easier to use.

"In the next 10 years, we will see radical advances in modes of search: mobile devices offering us easier search, Internet capabilities deployed in more devices, and different ways of entering and expressing your queries by voice, natural language, picture, or song, just to name a few. It's clear that while keyword-based searching is incredibly powerful, it's also incredibly limiting. These new modes will be one of the most sweeping changes in search," anticipates Marissa Mayer. She even envisions a "wearable device that does searches in the background based on the words it picks up from conversations" to illustrate how search will become a part of our life.

18 comments:

Hi. I'm a touch confused though. The Mobile Google Apps application on the iphone hasn't changed to include voice, right?

You're entirely right ot see the confluence of projects here and think of their application, but after digging around , it seems I was confused and that there is not a new voice-activated google app for the iphone. Please let me know if I'm wrong.

G

p.s. Thank you for running this blog. Its serves a very useful purpose.

You might want to do a follow-up story on this. There has been a lot of news on the subject. The app was supposed to be released on Friday but still has not been for unknown reasons. People are getting pissed, including me...

Why is Google advertising Sub-set of Onev's patent this way? What Google intended to patent was not allowed. This product appears to be a truncated version of what Google tried to steal/borrow without permission from One Voice Technologies.

http://blog.onev.com/blogsite/2008/06/voice-search-patents.html#more

If that link does not work go to blog.onev.com and click on voice search.

If you like this product ask Google why its not working with One Voice Technologies on the real deal...

It's not working on the iPhone anymore with the motion sensor action now disabled. I guess google hadn't worked all the bugs out yet. Does onev have a iPhone app with metasearch capability like Dogpile? That would be great!